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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Wollongong City, 15.8% of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Wollongong City's language statistics show the proportion of the population who use a language at home other than English. They indicate how culturally diverse a population is and the degree to which different ethnic groups and nationalities are retaining their language.
Wollongong City's language statistics should be analysed in conjunction with Country of Birth and Proficiency in English to assist in identifying specific cultural and ethnic groups in the area and the services required by the multicultural community.
Please note: Due to ABS rules regarding perturbation of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of individual language groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'
| Language used at home - Summary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wollongong City - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Regional NSW % | Number | % | Regional NSW % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Speaks English only | 171,184 | 79.8 | 86.8 | 159,286 | 78.2 | 87.1 | +11,898 |
| Non-English total | 33,860 | 15.8 | 6.6 | 34,203 | 16.8 | 5.7 | -343 |
| Not stated | 9,520 | 4.4 | 6.6 | 10,137 | 5.0 | 7.2 | -617 |
| Total Population | 214,564 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 203,626 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +10,938 |
Show all (86 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Wollongong City in 2021 compared to Regional NSW shows that there was a smaller proportion of people who used English only, and a larger proportion of those using a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).
Overall, 79.8% of the population used English only, and 15.8% used a non-English language, compared with 86.8% and 6.6% respectively for Regional NSW.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Wollongong City was Macedonian, with 2.1% of the population, or 4,535 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Wollongong City and Regional NSW in 2021 were:
- A larger percentage using Macedonian at home (2.1% compared to 0.3%)
- A larger percentage using Arabic at home (1.4% compared to 0.3%)
Emerging groups
Between 2016 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home decreased by 343 or 1.0%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 11,898 or 7.5%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Wollongong City between 2016 and 2021 were for those using:
- Italian (-777 persons)
- Mandarin (-735 persons)
- Urdu (+289 persons)
- Chinese, nfd (-267 persons)
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